This episode picks up with Imam Azhar recounting the last sermon of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and how no one person is better than another person, just because their skin is different, or they speak different, or they worship different. This is a point that seems to sometimes get lost in the world today, as hate takes hold of so many people and spreads like a cancer.

With this hate, there are so many people that are quick to say to Muslims, go back where you came from or that Muslims will never be able to assimilate into the American culture. Imam Azhar responds to this with a question of his own – What is American Culture?

Imam Azhar asks B.C. Dodge, what is a bridge? A bridge is something that is used to bring two sides or to items together that are not connected. As humans, we need to reach out to people that we don’t know and start to build these bridges, in order to bring people and societies together.

In 2017, why are talking about hate, why are we talking about Nazis, why are we talking about the KKK? There was quite literally a war about this, the whole world was involved, and we decided that this behavior, that this kind of language is not okay. Suppressing someone because they are different, is not okay.

Make sure to subscribe to this Venn Network production – Raw Islam with Imam Azhar Subedar. This is surely one of the best podcasts to subscribe to if you are looking for facts about Islam and if you want to know what Islam is all about. The Raw Islam Podcast delivers important information about Islam to you weekly, so make sure to subscribe to this Muslim Talk show that isn’t just for Muslims!

On this episode of Raw Islam with Imam Azhar, he joins us live from the vigil and march in Tampa Florida for the violence and the life lost in Charlottesville Virginia on August 12th, 2017.

Imam Azhar tells the listeners that “this is a very sad time, not just in our nation, but in our world…2,017 year after Jesus; 5,000 something years after Moses; and how knows how many years since the beginning of time… we haven’t learned how to get along with one another. It’s a very sad state of affairs.”

For some in the south they will never forget the war for White Supremacy, and the statues that remain as a reminder of this war, are just not a reminder to those that what to reclaim that time. But they are a reminder to those that would be oppressed under these ideologies as well.

Imam Azhar tell us that there are two words in the dictionary that cannot exist at the same time, and those words are Love and Hate. And in this current social climate hate is on the rise, and that is not because hate is better or stronger…it’s because we have forgotten the power and strength of love.

Of loving they neighbor, of loving each other unconditionally, the power of loving someone – regardless of who they are or where they come from – loving them simply because we have to coexist.

B.C. Dodge goes on to say that we, as humans, need to learn to come together no matter what our background is because we only have one Earth to live on at this point, we haven’t colonized Mars yet, so we need to look past color, we need to look past backgrounds, we need to look past religion, and learn to love each other for the sake of peace.

Make sure to subscribe to this Venn Network production – Raw Islam with Imam Azhar Subedar. This is surely one of the best podcasts to subscribe to if you are looking for facts about Islam and if you want to know what Islam is all about. The Raw Islam Podcast delivers important information about Islam to you weekly, so make sure to subscribe to this Muslim Talk show that isn’t just for Muslims!

On this episode of Raw Islam with Imam AzharB.C. Dodge opens the show and keeps going – he is fully on his soapbox right from the opening, and ends up kind of taking over the whole show (he does send his apologies). The day this episode was recorded was the same day that Chester Bennington was found dead from suicide. This hits very close to home for B.C. and he wanted to do a little something, so he shared the National Suicide Prevention Hotline number – which is 800.273.8255. However, this topic took Imam Azhar by surprise and ended up derailing the whole show, for what turned out to be an important conversation.

Imam Azhar and B.C. Dodge address the issue of suicide without being heavy handed in religion, in short, they had an honest conversation about suicide prevention and removing the sigma that surrounds mental health issues.

The Imam asks the question “If we can’t say that this [mental health issues] is a problem, then will we [be able to address the issue]?” And these issues are further compounded by the arguments of health care that are taking place within our own government. Mental health is not something to be put to the side just because you can’t see it. When someone has a cut or a broken bone we can see it and we the treatment is clear, just because you can’t see a mental health issue doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.

The truth of the matter is that we never really know what demons people are facing. Imam Azhar relates a story of a young teen whom he taught that lost his life because someone decided to end theirs.

Tune in to this very important conversation and share your thoughts below.

Make sure to subscribe to this Venn Network production – Raw Islam with Imam Azhar Subedar. This is surely one of the best podcasts to subscribe to if you are looking for facts about Islam and if you want to know what Islam is all about. The Raw Islam Podcast delivers important information about Islam to you weekly, so make sure to subscribe to this Muslim Talk show that isn’t just for Muslims!